Stand-up comedians know they've made it when the route laid down by their tour dates not only takes in some of the nation's bigger towns and venues but also when that journey follows some kind of geographic logic.

For John Bishop, long gone are consecutive nights in Great Yarmouth, Kendal and Torquay. In fact, he's become such a star that his list of warm-up gigs is bigger than most tours. And it is not as if the main tour isn't already big enough, with stellar ticket sales to date having seen extra nights added when John Bishop's Rollercoaster Tour kicks off in late September.

A year ago, it seemed that the likeable Scouser could not get any bigger but, with a second series of his hit BBC show 'John Bishop's Britain' completing its run over Christmas and a regular slot on Sky's comedy sports panel show, 'A League of Their Own', Bishop is more popular than ever.

Rollercoaster will take in runs at most of the UK's biggest indoor venues, including The O2 in Greenwich and the MEN Arena in Manchester, and Bishop will play to audiences total around a quarter of a million punters.

Ahead of that, the 22 preview shows at smaller venues (but not always that small) across the UK and Ireland begin in Bromsgrove on 6th June, moving onto dates in Leeds, Durham and more, before a trip to Ireland and three warm-up gigs at Vicar Street in Dublin.

After Dublin, John Bishop's hits England's south coast for preview shows in Bournemouth and Plymouth, before the main tour starts in earnest at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff on 21st September 2012.

Tickets for the preview shows go on sale at 9am on Friday 13th January.